Mass Effect: 187
by theaterman007
Summary: Retired Alliance Captain Mark Shepard is beginning his new job as a homicide detective with Citadel Security (C-SEC). His first case: the brutal murder of a quarian businesswoman. With his best friend and former squadmate Garrus Vakarian as his partner, Shepard must sort through multiple suspects and motives in order to crack the case.
1. Chapter 1

**A:N/ Hey everybody. Thank you for stopping by to check out the latest addition to my Mass Effect fanfiction series. This story takes place after my "After the War" story (so SPOILER ALERT if you haven't read that story) and before the epilogue chapter of my "Extended Extended Cut" story. I'll have more to say in the author's note at the end of this chapter but for now, sit back, relax and enjoy "Mass Effect: 187"**

 **Disclaimer: The characters in this story and the universe it takes place in are the property of BioWare and EA Games.**

* * *

Mark Shepard almost didn't recognize the man staring back at him in the mirror. It wasn't the man himself that he didn't recognize. As far as Shepard could tell, his appearance hadn't really changed much the last few years. If it wasn't the man, then it had to be the outfit the man was wearing. It consisted of black shoes, blue jeans with a black belt, a black undershirt and a blue leather jacket. Though not the craziest of outfits, at least as far as work outfits went, it was strange for Shepard to see himself in it because he was so used to the previous work outfit that he had worn for almost two decades.

Since he was eighteen, Shepard had been a member of the Alliance military. Every morning he would get up and put on the same Alliance causal wear. The type of causal outfit he wore would change as he rose up the ranks but it was always an Alliance outfit. He even considered the N7 leather jacket he wore during the later moments of his career to be in the same class of outfit since the N7 represented his rank in the Alliance special forces. The only time he would put on a different outfit in the morning was when he was on shore leave. Now Shepard didn't wear Alliance outfits anymore. Not after what happened seven months ago.

Shepard shook his head in an attempt to snap himself out of his current thought. It was not the time to think about the past. Thus he returned his attention to the uniform he was wearing at that moment. Upon taking a second look, Shepard decided that the blue leather jacket he was wearing wasn't that different from his N7 jacket. In fact, it had a similar design. The main difference was instead of a black coat with a red lines down the sleeves, it was a blue coat with black lines. It was then he realized that it wasn't the outfit itself that made his reflection unrecognizable, it was what the outfit represented. The uniform was proof that he wasn't a soldier anymore. Now he was something else. To further prove the point, and to psyche himself up for the day that awaited him, Shepard pulled out a badge from his pocket and held it up to the mirror.

Shepard then said in a professional tone, "I'm Detective Shepard, C-SEC Homicide."

A smile appeared on Shepard's face as he clipped the badge onto his belt. Slowly the words he said began to sink in. The retired Alliance captain was now a police officer. And not just any police officer, he was getting ready to start his first day as a homicide detective with Citadel Security (C-SEC).

When Shepard retired from the military seven months ago, he knew right away that whatever job he pursued next had to allow him to continue to do what he felt was his purpose in life: helping people. Since he lived on the Citadel, the space station that served as the political center of the galaxy, the obvious choice to him that met his criteria was C-SEC. After all, other military veterans had successfully found careers with C-SEC after retiring. The tough part though was getting the job. All applicants for C-SEC needed to be endorsed by a Citadel Councilor. Fortunately the human representative on the Council, Steven Hackett, was someone who knew Shepard well and gladly endorsed his application. It also helped that Shepard had two friends who were active duty C-SEC officers that could give him recommendations. With the recommendations and Hackett's endorsement, Shepard was sworn in and became a C-SEC patrol officer. Shepard worked as a patrol officer until a week ago when he was approached by Commander Armando-Owen Bailey, one of his C-SEC friends who helped him get the job, and offered a promotion to homicide detective. The offer was surprising to Shepard because new detectives were never offered to start their careers in homicide. Bailey explained that he felt confident Shepard was a good fit for the job because he had seen Shepard handle himself well at a crime scene back when he was still in the military. Initially Shepard wasn't sure if he wanted to take the job. He joined C-SEC to help people and it was hard for him to see how he could do that in a job where he would be showing up after a person had already been killed. Then it dawned on Shepard it was because of that train of thought that made murder victims need help. Just because a person was dead didn't mean Shepard couldn't help them. As a homicide detective, Shepard could be the one to ensure that justice for the victims was served. With that in mind and knowing that Bailey was a friend who would never offer him something that he couldn't handle, Shepard accepted the promotion.

Now ready to begin his first day, Shepard left his bedroom and proceeded to the lower level of his apartment. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, his attention was drawn to the sound of footsteps coming from the office room. He smiled as he knew who it was that was making those footsteps. Walking into the office, his hunch was confirmed. Pacing by the terminal was his wife, Ashley. Ashley didn't seem to notice Shepard enter the office as she appeared to be deep in thought with one hand scratching her head and the other resting on her seven month pregnant belly. The smile on Shepard's face grew larger. It always made him happy to see his wife in her maternal glory first thing in the morning. The day he and Ashley found out they were going to have a baby was one of the happiest days of their lives….and also one of the scariest.

The brief thought of that day brought Shepard back to the moment seven months ago he was trying not to think about earlier. It was when he and Ashley were on their final mission as Alliance soldiers. The mission involved him pursing an enigmatic figure known only as the mystery backer. The backer first came to Shepard's attention when he found out they were financing several terrorist plots that he had been tasked with thwarting. It was later discovered the backer was a woman named Dana Thompson who financed the schemes as part of an elaborate plan to get revenge on Shepard, the person she believed murdered her sister Julia. It was true that Shepard had killed Julia but he had a good reason for it. Julia was working on a ship called the MSV Worthington when she killed her entire crew in a misguided attempt to keep her brain dead boyfriend alive. She later tried to kill Shepard and his squad when they boarded to investigate the Worthington after finding it floating adrift. By all accounts, Shepard had no choice but to kill her because it was a kill or be killed situation. Unfortunately Dana refused to believe that her sister would snap and instead believed that Shepard was just using his status as a council Spectre (SPECial Tactics and REconnaissance) to get away with murder. She then formed a plan to arrange for the deaths of several of Shepard's closest friends so that he would suffer like she did before finally killing him. Dana succeeded in causing the deaths of six of Shepard's friends and nearly killed four others before Shepard finally brought her to justice.

Ashley was one of the four friends that Dana nearly killed. Planning to have Ashley's death be the final blow she dealt to Shepard before killing him, Dana kidnapped Ashley while she was on a hostage rescue mission. Shepard and his squad were able to rescue Ashley but not before she received a near fatal stab wound from Dana. It was while Ashley was recovering that she learned she was pregnant. Though Shepard and Ashley were both delighted when they received the news, Ashley's near death experience and the other events of the mystery backer case made them wonder if they could handle being both soldiers and parents. After much discussion, the couple had decided that they were happy with what they had accomplished during their careers and chose to retire from the military so they could raise their baby together.

While Shepard had chosen to join C-SEC after retiring, Ashley had begun taking an interest in writing. Shepard figured it was because of her love for classic literature. At the present, Ashley was putting the finishing touches on what she hoped was going to become her debut novel. The novel was titled "Love Conquers All" and it followed the story of two soldiers who meet on the battlefield, fall in love and face challenges as they try to make their relationship work. Only Shepard, Ashley and their close friends and family knew that Ashley's "fictional" story was based on their own relationship. When Shepard had last asked Ashley about how the book was going, she told him that she had only one chapter left to write. Now looking at Ashley pacing and scratching her head, Shepard got the feeling that she was suffering from writer's block.

"Good morning beautiful," Shepard said to get Ashley's attention, "I had a feeling you were down here when you weren't in bed when I woke up."

"Yeah," Ashley said with a weary smile while she patted her stomach, "our kiddo here woke me up early so I thought I'd try to get some writing done. Unfortunately I haven't made any progress. I just don't know how to end the story."

"How come?" Shepard asked slightly confused. "You're basing the story on us. Why not just have it end with your heroes living happily ever after like we are?"

"I thought about it," Ashley said as she sat down in the chair by the terminal, "it just…it seems a bit cliché. I feel like people are getting tired of happily ever after. So I've been thinking about ending it with one of my protagonists dying in the final battle and the survivor having to carry on without them. I just need to figure out whether it will be the man or the woman. Ooh."

"You okay?"

"Yeah, the baby's kicking up a storm again. Come here and feel for yourself."

Shepard knelt down next to Ashley and put a hand on her stomach. Sure enough the baby was unleashing a fury of kicks. Shepard smiled as his hand felt each one. He also kind of felt sorry for Ashley. She was carrying the child of two former soldiers who each had strong fighting spirits. If the baby was inheriting that trait about them, Ashley was probably going to be feeling many more strong kicks until it was born. Fortunately his concern was lifted when Ashley smiled too and even made a joke.

"He's definitely your kid. Every time I try to get some work done, he starts kicking and won't stop no matter what I do to try and calm him down. Stubborn, just like his dad."

Shepard couldn't help but chuckle at Ashley's remark. In the first place, he knew that she was one to talk about being stubborn. It could just as easily be the baby was getting its stubbornness from its mother. In the second place, he loved how Ashley was still sticking to her belief that the baby was going to be a boy. They had mutually agreed that they wanted the gender of the baby to be a surprise when it was born and had turned down all previous offers to find out beforehand. Yet Ashley seemed to believe she could tell it was going to be a boy. Normally Shepard wasn't one to argue with a woman's intuition, especially Ashley's. However he personally believed that the odds were in favor of the baby being a girl. Though Shepard didn't know much about his own family history having grown up an orphan, Ashley was from a family of all girls. With those odds, Shepard felt that he and Ashley were going to have a "girly hoard" of their own. So since Ashley was always calling the baby "he" and "him", Shepard felt that he could call it "she" and "her". Luckily for him, Ashley enjoyed their playful disagreement.

Suddenly Shepard's eyes widened when something clicked in his head. It was like a couple of puzzle pieces had come together to make a whole picture. A sly smile appeared on Shepard's face when he figured out what the picture was. The deduction he just made seemed to be further proof that he really did have what it took to be a detective.

"Do you think that maybe the baby's trying to tell you something?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?" Ashley asked as she looked at Shepard like he had asked a stupid question.

"Well you said the baby starts kicking when you try to write that ending you mentioned. It's possible that she doesn't like your ending and wants you to write the happy one. And I happen to think she's right."

Ashley looked down at her stomach contemplating what Shepard said, "you really think that's why he's kicking so much?"

"I know it is. Look Ash, I think between the Reaper War and the rebuilding efforts that came after it, the last thing everyone wants to read is a story that ends with more loss. They need a story that shows that there is still hope for a happy ending. The way I see it, you can never get tired of reading about people overcoming obstacles to find happiness."

Shepard could tell his words worked as Ashley's smile grew larger and a happy tear appeared in her eye. It was then she realized that the baby had stopped kicking. It seemed hard to believe but she had to admit that Shepard appeared to be right. She gave her stomach a gentle pat and then leaned forward to give Shepard a hug.

"Thank you," she said, "both of you."

"You're welcome," Shepard said before his attention was caught by the terminal's clock, "uh oh, I need to get going or I'll be late for work."

The minute Shepard brought up his work, Ashley seemed to tense up. It wasn't hard for Shepard to figure out why. Ashley had been supportive of his decision to work at C-SEC but that didn't mean she wasn't worried about the risks involved with being a police officer. With the baby on the way, the last thing she wanted was for it to never meet its father. Shepard understood her worries and there was a part of him that thought about finding a job that didn't involve risking his life. But his desire to help people won out every time he considered it. All he could do now was try and reassure Ashley that he would be fine. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder and locked eyes with her.

"I'll be alright Ash," he said, "I won't be in nearly as much danger as I was on battlefields. If I ever do find myself in a jam, my partner will have my back. Who knows, it's possible I might not even catch a case today."

"I know," Ashley said with Shepard's words helping her feel a little better, "you really are a true hero-man. Actually now that I think about it, you haven't even told me who your new partner is going to be. Do you even know?"

A sly smile appeared on Shepard's face again, "I do, but I can't tell you yet. Don't ask why because I won't tell you that either. You'll just have to wait until I come home tonight."

Ashley seemed disappointed that Shepard wasn't going to tell her who his partner was but decided not to push. Shepard needed to get to work and she didn't want to make him late. Instead she brought Shepard in for a kiss.

"I love you," she said when the kiss broke.

"I love you too Ash," Shepard replied.

Before leaving, Shepard knelt back down so that his head was level with Ashley's stomach. He gently rubbed it as he started speaking to the baby.

"You be good to your mom kiddo," he said, "I'll be home soon."

After giving Ashley's stomach a gentle kiss, Shepard got up to leave the room. He gave one final wave goodbye to Ashley and proceeded to exit the apartment. As he closed the door behind him, he felt like he was going from one world to another. The world behind him: a peaceful family life. The world ahead of him: the dark, unpredictable life of a homicide detective.

* * *

If there was a downside to the Citadel wards not having a day/night cycle, it was the fact that nothing ever stopped running. With C-SEC, that meant there was never a slow period. Though some officers were just starting their shifts, the busyness didn't slow down. So when Detective Garrus Vakarian walked into headquarters, he instantly found himself having to help a salarian and human officer who were struggling to get an intoxicated krogan into a holding cell. With the additional muscle Garrus provided, they were finally able to get the krogan into the cell.

"Thanks Vakarian." said the human officer, "hopefully this guy will settle down when he's had a chance to sober up."

"No problem," Garrus replied, "this is probably one of the more fun ways to start my shift. Drunk and disorderly?"

"Yes sir," the salarian officer replied, "lucky for him though his friends called us before he could start doing serious damage. Considering he's a krogan, it wouldn't have taken much longer for him to do that."

"True enough. Anything else going on I should know about?"

The salarian officer nodded, "Commander Bailey wanted you to report to his office when you got here."

"Really? Did he say why?"

The human officer smiled deviously, "you're not going to like it Vakarian. Apparently you are not going to be the lone wolf around here anymore. Bailey wants to introduce you to your new partner."

Garrus tensed up when he heard the word "partner". Since retuning to C-SEC shortly after the Reaper War ended, he had been paired up with several different partners. He knew that the regulations stated that all detectives needed partners but he just couldn't seem to keep any of the ones he was paired with. Many of the officers who were familiar with Garrus' early career figured he scared them away with his tendency to not always go by the book when on cases. While that may have been true in some of the cases, the remaining partnerships dissolved because Garrus' partners were incompetent in one way or another. In one case, his partner was revealed to be a mole planted by a criminal organization. It was after that incident that Garrus made up his mind that he would never have another partner regardless of what the regulations said. It was a shame for him that Bailey didn't seem to be willing to let him do that.

After dropping off some stuff at his desk, Garrus made his way up to Bailey's office. On the way, he started thinking of how he was going to convince Bailey not to go through with assigning him a partner. If the detective Bailey had in mind was already up there, Garrus knew he was going to have to be polite about it so as not to risk offending the detective in the process. He had just come up with an idea of what he was going to say when he approached Bailey's office door. The door was already open and he could see Bailey inside sitting at his desk working on some paperwork. From where he was, Garrus couldn't see anybody else in the room. He figured the detective who was going to be his new partner hadn't arrived yet. It was probably better that way as it allowed him to be able to speak his mind without having to be polite. He gently knocked on the doorframe to get Bailey's attention.

"Come in," Bailey said without looking up from his desk.

"You wanted to see me?" Garrus asked as he entered the office.

It was then Bailey looked up to face Garrus, "yes I did. I wanted to introduce you to…"

"Look sir, I know why you wanted to see me. Let me save you some time. I don't want a new partner. I don't care who you have picked out because odds are it will end just like the others. They will either prove to be incompetent or I'll scare them off."

Suddenly a voice from behind Garrus spoke, "well Garrus I wouldn't say I'm incompetent and your ugly mug has never scared me away when we worked together in the past."

Garrus thought he recognized the voice but it couldn't be…him. He was proven wrong when he turned towards the source of the voice. Sure enough the voice belonged to Shepard, his best friend and former commanding officer. After recovering from the initial surprise of seeing Shepard, Garrus gave him a big hug.

"I can't believe it's you Shepard," Garrus said when the hug broke, "you were still a patrolman the last time I saw you. How did you make homicide so fast?"

"I promoted him," said Bailey, "Shepard's already shown me once that he has what it takes to be a good detective and I've wanted to make him one since he joined the force. But I knew he needed to spend some time as a patrolman to get his bearings first. Last week I decided to finally offer him the job."

"And since we've worked together before, he figured I would be the one detective you wouldn't turn down having as partner," added Shepard, "I told him that was a safe bet since there's no Shepard without Vakarin."

Garrus smiled and shook Shepard's hand, "well then welcome to the homicide desk Detective Shepard. I couldn't have asked for a better partner."

"Well that's all I needed you for Vakarian," Bailey said as he returned his attention to the paperwork on his desk, "I'll let you give Shepard the tour. If any cases come up, I'll let you know."

Garrus and Shepard nodded and proceeded to leave Bailey's office.

"You know it wasn't easy keeping this a surprise from you Garrus," Shepard said as he and Garrus approached their desks, "I wouldn't even tell Ashley about this because I was afraid she would tell Tali and then Tali would tell you."

"That was a smart move," said Garrus, "I love my wife but she can be a blabber-mouth sometimes. So shall we begin the tour?"

"What are you asking me for Garrus? You're the senior officer now."

A sly smile appeared on Garrus' face, "oh yeah, that's right. I get to boss you around for a change. Oh this is going to be fun."

Shepard chuckled and patted Garrus on the back. He knew that Garrus was joking but the chance to see him excited about being the senior officer was too good to pass up. After leaving some items at his desk, he gestured for Garrus to begin the tour. As they walked through the bullpen, Shepard silently hoped that the excitement of reuniting with Garrus would be the only excitement he would have on his first day as a homicide detective.

* * *

The light from a terminal was the only source of illumination inside the apartment of a quarian woman. Given her emotional state, the darkness of her room was fitting. She was crying while she was typing out a message on the terminal. For a moment her attention was drawn to a photograph next to the terminal. The photograph was of her with a male quarian. The two of them looked like they were very much in love. Sadly looking at the photo now caused the woman to feel hurt. Her crying was on the verge of intensifying when she managed to snap out of her current thought and pulled the photo so that it was face down. She couldn't afford to think about the reason it hurt to look at the photo. The message she was typing on the terminal was more important and she had to send it as soon as possible.

(KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK)

The woman jumped when she heard a knocking at the door. A sense of dread came over her. She wasn't expecting any company nor was she expecting any takeout food deliveries. Before moving to answer the door, she powered down her terminal so that nothing was visible on screen. A second set of knocks were heard while the woman tiptoed towards the door. As she tried to avoid making any noises, she turned on the screen next to the door that was connected to a camera on the other side. With it, she was able to get a clear view of who was knocking. When she saw who it was, one of her eyebrows rose in confusion. The person on the other side was someone she knew but she couldn't figure out why they would be visiting her at that moment. After bouncing back and forth on what to do, she opened the door.

* * *

 **A/N: Well folks there you have it. Shepard is now a C-SEC detective, partnered with his best friend Garrus and from the looks of things about to get his first case. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

 **Now for a little bit of bad news. There won't be much activity with this story for awhile. When I announced this story in my "Spectre" story and said that I would post the first chapter today, I was working on an unrelated fanfiction at the time. I set the date because I thought I would be done with that story by now. Sadly that is not the case. From the looks of things, I won't be done with that story until July. So this story likely won't be continuing until September at the latest. But I promised I would post the first chapter for this story today and I made sure I did that at least.**

 **Now for some good news. While this story won't be active for awhile, I'm excited to announce that I have something special planned for Mass Effect: Andromeda's launch date on March 21st. Berserker79, a good friend of mine from deviantart and the creator of the cover image of my "After the War" story, and myself are teaming up for a joint project. Using a new picture of his and a new story by me, we will tell another previously untold story that could have happened during the events of ME3. On March 21, check out Berserker79's deviantart account and check back here to witness the moment when Shepard formally meets Ashley's sister Sarah. Until then, take care everybody. theaterman007 out.**


	2. Chapter 2

Shepard's eyes were zeroing in on his target. By all accounts, the shot he was attempting would be difficult for anyone to make. The target was small and a good distance from Shepard's position. But as long as Shepard lined up his shot perfectly and got his breathing controlled to steady his aim, he could hit the target no problem. Once his shot was lined up, Shepard held his breath and…

(COUGH)

The sound of someone coughing behind Shepard stopped him from firing. He rolled his eyes in frustration while other voices shushed the person who coughed. It was then Shepard remembered why he was going to have a harder time making the shot than he normally would. Any other time he had to make a difficult shot, he did it without anyone watching him. Having Garrus and several other C-SEC detectives watching with eager anticipation was making him nervous. Still Shepard was determined to make the shot. After all, he was still a rookie detective and he wanted to prove to the others he had what it took to join their ranks. With everything quiet again, Shepard held his breath, aimed and fired.

(SWISH)

From his desk, Shepard watched as the paper ball he threw flew over several desks and landed perfectly in the wastebasket on the opposite side of the bullpen. He then heard the sound of gasps from the people behind him who were both surprised and impressed that he made the shot. Their reactions caused Shepard to smile as he was proud of himself for succeeding in his goal to impress them. Suddenly the gasps turned to grumbles. Confused by the sudden change in the group's mood, Shepard turned around to see what was going on. What he saw made him smile again.

All the detectives that were watching Shepard make his shot were now gathered around each other and exchanging credits. No doubt settling up bets that were made on whether he would make his shot or not, the large amount of grumbles told Shepard a lot of them had bet against him. As soon as the last bet was settled, the detectives separated and returned to their respective desks. It was then Shepard noticed that the only person who seemed happy with the outcome was Garrus.

"Thanks for playing everybody," Garrus said as he sat down at his desk which was located directly opposite of Shepard's, "I hope you learned something today. You never bet against Shepard."

Listening to Garrus made Shepard feel both happy and slightly embarrassed. On the one hand, he was happy that his best friend had the confidence to bet on him even when no else did. Though that wasn't really a surprise since that was pretty much the story of Shepard and Garrus' friendship. From the very beginning of their fight against the Reapers, Garrus was one of the few people who put his money on Shepard's warnings even though the rest of the galaxy didn't want to believe them. On the other hand, Shepard kind of wished that Garrus didn't make it sound like he was unbeatable. All of Shepard's accomplishments in his military career had earned him a reputation that made him sound like an unstoppable super soldier. As far as Shepard was concerned, he was just a regular guy who had his shortcomings just like everyone else. Just by looking back on his hunt for Dana Thompson was enough to prove that to him. He may have caught her but it took him two years of searching and six of his friends were killed before he did. If he was the super soldier everyone thought he was, he would have found her sooner and without losing anyone. Realizing he was letting his mind wander to a place he didn't want to revisit, Shepard tried to focus on something else.

It wasn't easy for Shepard to focus on something else however since it was pretty quiet in the bullpen. His first day had been uneventful, something he was extremely grateful for. He'd rather be bored in the bullpen than having someone die just to give him a case to work. Coming into work on his second day to find there were still no cases, he started tossing paper balls into wastebaskets in his latest attempt to break the boredom. It was only after Garrus came into the bullpen and boasted that he could make a shot from across the bullpen that Shepard found himself the subject of the latest bullpen betting pool. While it was embarrassing, it did add a bit of extra excitement to Shepard's day. Now that tossing papers was becoming dull, Shepard decided the next best thing to do was catch up with Garrus.

"So Garrus," he said, "how'd Tali react when you told her we were partners."

Garrus chuckled, "by squealing like a fan girl. Apparently she has been secretly hoping that you and I would become partners one day ever since you first joined C-SEC. She says congratulations on the promotion by the way."

"I'll be sure to tell her thanks the next time I see her. Ashley was pretty excited too when I told her last night. She's already talking about how she and Tali can add being homicide detective wives to their list of things to bond over. I told her the two of them should start a club."

The joke made Garrus chuckle again, "yeah. I'm sure that some of the other detectives' wives would be interested in joining. They would just need to come up with name. How about 'The Homicide Detective Wives Club.'"

"VAKARIAN! SHEPARD!"

Shepard and Garrus' smiles vanished when they heard Bailey call them. A feeling of dread began to overtake them as they both knew there was only one reason Bailey would be calling for them the way he was. They looked in Bailey's direction and saw him typing something on his omni-tool. A few seconds later, both of their omni-tools chimed as they each received a new message.

"We just got a call that a quarian woman has been found dead in her apartment. All signs point to it being a homicide. I just sent the preliminary info and address to your omni-tools. Move out!"

After hearing Bailey's last order, Shepard and Garrus rose from their seats to leave. They pulled out their respected sidearms from their desks and headed out of the bullpen. While they were heading out, Shepard was mentally preparing himself. He was really about to begin his first case as a homicide detective. A quarian woman was dead and now it was up to him and Garrus to figure out what happened, who was responsible and bring that person to justice.

* * *

Since Garrus was the only one who had a C-SEC issue skycar, it was agreed that he would drive to the crime scene. While on route, Shepard read through the information Bailey had sent to their omni-tools. The call they were responding to had come in from a quarian woman named Jala'Cal vas Tonbay. She had stopped by the apartment of her friend Shara'Vael vas Moreh to pick her up for a girls day. Upon arrival, she found Shara in her living room dead with multiple wounds on her chest. Initial reports from the first responders indicated that the front door had been hacked leading them to speculate that it was possibly a robbery gone wrong. It was going to be up to Shepard and Garrus to try and determine if that was actually the case.

"So partner," Shepard said after he finished reading the report, "any words of advice for the rookie before we arrive?"

"Not really," Garrus replied, "this isn't your first time at a crime scene so you know how to handle yourself. Just know that it's okay to admit if you're stumped. If you're not sure what to do, come find me and we'll see what we can figure out. Beyond that, I'm going to let you investigate the scene however you choose."

The apartment building where Shara lived was easy to find thanks to the amount of police vehicles parked outside. One thing Garrus pointed out as a positive thing was that there were no news crews on the scene. He explained that it would be a lot easier for them to do their job since they didn't have to contend with any media circuses. Worst case scenario they would probably have to deal with a few nosy neighbors but they would be a lot easier to control than a bunch of reporters. When their skycar touched down, Shepard and Garrus were greeted by an asari officer. The officer seemed particularly amused upon seeing Shepard.

"I can't believe the rumors were true," she said, "I had heard you got a new partner Detective Vakarian. Whatever happened to your 'no more partners' vow?"

Garrus chuckled, "what can I say? The commander finally found one that I like. Detective Shepard, this is Officer T'Parro. We've worked several crime scenes together over the years."

"Pleased to meet you T'Parro," Shepard said as he shook T'Parro's hand.

"Likewise Detective. If you two will follow me I'll take you up to the crime scene."

T'Parro let Shepard and Garrus through the apartment building's lobby and to the elevator that would take them to the floor Shara's apartment was on. During the elevator ride, she gave them a rundown on what would be awaiting them. There were two officers guarding the entrance to the apartment. Inside the apartment were a handful of crime scene techs processing the scene and the medical examiner. Most of their work was done and they were waiting for Shepard and Garrus to arrive so they could give their reports. Besides them, there were a couple of neighbors peeking from their apartments but the officers guarding the door were keeping back any that tried to get a closer look.

Upon exiting the elevator, Shepard and Garrus got a brief glimpse of what T'Parro was talking about when they saw officers telling a neighbor to step away from the room. The neighbor initially persisted in trying to learn what was going on but finally walked away when the officers warned that they would restrain him if he didn't. Glancing down the hallway, Shepard noticed other neighbors peeking out from their doors. He shook his head in bewilderment. What was it about murder that made people curious enough that they would try to get a peek at what was going on? If it wasn't for the fact that his job required him to investigate murder scenes, he probably would avoid them like the plague since he had seen enough death to last a lifetime.

Shepard and Garrus were allowed past the officers guarding the door and instantly their eyes darted across the room to process everything that was going on. Sadly no matter how many times Shepard tried to look at something else, his eyes kept returning to the horrible sight in the living room. With a salarian who Shepard assumed was the medical examiner standing over her, the late Shara'Vael vas Moreh was lying on the floor near a corner of the room. He could just make out several holes on her chest. Shepard couldn't tell for sure if they were stab or bullet wounds. Remembering that the body wasn't discovered until Shara's friend came to pick her up, he figured the neighbors didn't hear any gun shots. So they were either stab wounds or the killer had their gun equipped with a silencer. The only way Shepard would be able to find out for sure was when he and Garrus talked to the medical examiner.

"Okay Shepard," Garrus said with a sly smile, "I've already noticed a few things of interest but I'm not going to tell you what they are."

Shepard looked at Garrus with confusion, "why not?"

"Because this is the perfect opportunity for me to see how well you handle a crime scene on your own. One of the reasons Bailey made you a homicide detective was because he was impressed by the way you worked the crime scene of Kelly's murder."

Garrus was referring to Dr. Kelly Chambers. She was a psychologist who also worked as Shepard's yeoman during his mission to stop the enigmatic race known as the Collectors from abduction human colonists. Kelly was sadly also one of the friends Shepard lost thanks to Dana Thompson. Her death had been ruled as the result of a brain hemorrhage but Bailey, who was leading the investigation, suspected there was more to her death than there appeared. When he discovered Shepard was listed as Kelly's emergency contact, he called Shepard and asked him to come to the crime scene. Shepard was the one who figured out that Kelly had actually been murdered and that the killer worked for Dana who he only knew as the mystery backer then. It was that day Bailey saw the potential in Shepard that convinced him Shepard would make a good homicide detective.

"I want to see that for myself. The best way to do that is to see if you'll notice the same things I did. So go ahead, take a look around and then come find me when you're done. I'll be with the medical examiner."

With that said, Garrus left Shepard standing with a stunned expression. Shepard thought for a while about what Garrus had said before he finally smiled and chuckled. It may have initially seemed crazy that Garrus was letting him work his first crime scene solo but upon thinking about it, he saw the reasoning behind Garrus' logic. Garrus was an experienced investigator and if he said that he already noticed something, than he would take his word for it. The challenge now was for Shepard to see if he can notice the same things.

According to the report, Shala's murder was believed to be the result of a robbery gone wrong because the front door showed evidence of hacking. Glancing behind him, Shepard could see a tech working on the door likely trying to study the hack used to open it. When he turned back to face the living room, he found himself wondering what would a potential burglar see in the apartment that would make them think it was worth robbing. From what Shepard could see, Shala wasn't somebody living a life of wealth and luxury. The few items that a thief might want to steal appeared to be accounted for. It was possible that the killer decided after killing Shara that it wasn't worth the risk of getting caught by sticking around to get a few miscellaneous valuables.

"But why would the killer break into an apartment when the occupant was home?" Shepard asked himself. "It's practically burglary 101 to wait for when a home is vacant before breaking in. There's less chance of getting caught and less chance for something like this to happen."

With the question still lingering in his head, Shepard started walking around the room. He barely took a few steps when he noticed evidence markers labeling two separate piles of broken glass. One pile was located between a coffee table and a couch. The other was scattered along the corner of the room opposite Shala's body. Shepard knelt down by one of the piles to get a closer look. The first thing he noticed was dark colored stain underneath the glass. Based on the smell coming from it, Shepard could tell it wasn't blood. It smelled more like wine. Besides the wine stain, there was something else in the pile that caught Shepard's eye. He pulled out a pen from his pocket and used it to move some of the glass pieces around. Buried in the shards was a circular piece that was a different color than the others. He asked a crime scene tech for a tool that would help him pick up the piece so he could examine it closer. Upon close inspection, Shepard realized that it was the base of a drinking glass. He quickly checked the other pile and found a similar base buried underneath the other shards as well as another wine stain.

"So we have two shattered drinking glasses," Shepard thought as he looked around the room, "but where's the rest of the mess? If there had been some kind of a struggle in here, more stuff should have been tossed around and damaged."

The last place Shepard decided to look was on the nearby desk. There were only two items on top of it, a partially open terminal and a picture frame that was laying flat. Shepard carefully opened the terminal and was greeted by a login screen. He knew it was a long shot that he would be able see what was on the terminal without having to go through a login screen. However he felt it was worth trying since the terminal was partially open. It was likely Shala was working on something before she was killed. He made a note to ask a tech to take the terminal and see if they could get onto it. If the murder wasn't the result of a robbery gone wrong, the terminal could have some info that would tell them what angle to pursue next. Or maybe the picture frame would. Lifting up the frame, Shepard waited for the picture to appear on the screen. Within seconds, an image of Shala appeared. She was wrapped in the arms of a male quarian and the looks on their faces seemed to indicate they were deeply in love with each other. It was what Shepard considered to be a sweet picture. The only reason Shepard could think of for why Shala would have the frame pulled down would be if they had a falling out.

Convinced that he had seen everything that he needed to see, Shepard decided to join Garrus and the medical examiner by Shala's body. Though it wouldn't be the first dead body Shepard had ever seen, he took a few deep breaths to ready himself for what he was going to see. Most of the dead bodies he'd seen in the past were only fallen allies and enemies he would glance at briefly while in battlefields. It was the times where Shepard actually looked at the body closely where he felt uneasy. But looking at bodies was now going to be a regular part of Shepard's job and he was going to have to get used to it. Once he was ready, he walked towards Garrus and the medical examiner. As he got closer, Shepard could hear the medical examiner speaking. To Shepard's confusion, he didn't appear to be talking to Garrus who was the only person standing by him. It was then Shepard noticed that the medical examiner wasn't really talking. It sounded more like mumbling. There was almost something familiar about the way he was mumbling but Shepard couldn't quite place it. His thoughts were interrupted when Garrus noticed him approaching and spoke to him.

"How are you doing?" he asked. "Anything sticking out to you?"

Shepard nodded, "a couple of things. Hopefully they're the same things you noticed. I'd like to hear what the medical examiner has to say before I share my thoughts though."

Garrus smiled, "smart choice. A good detective should always wait until they have all the available facts before posing theories. Besides if you don't talk to the medical examiner, you're going to miss out on the one good surprise you'll see today."

"What do you mean?"

"Doctor," Garrus said turning to the medical examiner, "this is my new partner, Detective Shepard. Detective Shepard, allow me to introduce you to the medical examiner I've worked with on most of my cases, Dr. Belon Solus."

Shepard's eyes widened with surprise when he heard the name, "Solus? Is he related to…?"

The man introduced as Dr. Solus stopped mumbling and turned to face Shepard and Garrus before Shepard could finish his question, "Partner? Yes. Heard the commander assigned you a new one. Optimistic this partnership will last longer than others. Pleased to meet you Detective Shepard. Know a lot about you from Uncle Mordin's stories."

Sure enough, the medical examiner Shepard was looking at was the nephew of his former squadmate Dr. Mordin Solus. Mordin was a salarian scientist that Shepard recruited for the Collector mission. It was thanks to Mordin's scientific expertise that Shepard and his squad had the countermeasures they needed to avoid becoming paralyzed by the drones the Collectors used to immobilize the colonists. Later Mordin would use his medical knowledge to develop a cure for the krogan genophage, a biological weapon that severely reduced the probability of viable krogan pregnancies. Sadly Mordin passed away when he sacrificed himself to ensure that the cure was successfully dispersed. Sill Mordin was someone Shepard couldn't easily forget thanks to his vast knowledge of science, his quick-talking speech and his unexpected singing talents.

Seeing Belon in the flesh brought Shepard back to one of his talks with Mordin during the Collector mission. During that talk, Mordin mentioned that he had a nephew who was a geneticist and had secured university tenure at sixteen years old. Based on Mordin's description of Belon, Shepard assumed Belon was planning on following in his uncle's footsteps. His assumption would have been further strengthened by the fact Belon seemed to have Morin's quick talking speech since it indicated Belon looked up to his uncle. Yet, further adding to Shepard's surprise, Belon was introduced to him as a medical examiner which was a relatively far jump from genetics. Belon seemed to pick up on Shepard's surprise and continued speaking.

"Surprise understandable. Wasn't expecting to see me in this line of work."

"Yeah," Shepard replied, "when your uncle mentioned you, he said you were in genetics. How'd you go from being a geneticist to a medical examiner?"

"Long story. Best told at later time. For now, deliver report."

"The floor's yours Doc," said Garrus, "what can you tell us about how Ms. Shara'Vael died?"

Belon knelt back down and gestured to the multiple holes on Shara's chest, "cause of death, multiple stab wounds. Initial examination puts time of death between 2100 and 2300 last night. Based on wound locations, damage mostly done to the heart. Note also hand impression on mouth. Killer likely covered her mouth. Kept her from screaming."

Garrus nodded, "between that and the fact most of the tenants were likely asleep at that time, it would explain why no one heard anything. What else, Doc?"

"One peculiar thing of note. Found twenty stab wounds total."

"Twenty?" Shepard gasped, "are you sure?"

"Yes. Strange. Fatal blow likely among first dealt. No reason to continue stabbing. Sadly can only tell how murderer killed victim. Up to you two to figure out why murder committed this way."

"Thanks Doc," Garrus said when Belon finished his report.

Rubbing his chin in deep thought, Shepard stepped away from Shala's body and paced around the room. All the while trying to ignore the anticipated stare from Garrus. Shepard knew that Garrus was going to ask for his thoughts any second. He was almost ready to share them but he felt like there was one more thing he needed to check. Hie eyes were suddenly drawn to the nearby kitchen. Sitting on the countertop was a kitchen knife set.

"Something on your mind Shepard?" Garrus asked when he noticed Shepard's intense focus on the knife set.

"Has anybody found the murder weapon?" Shepard asked while he made his way to the kitchen.

"No sign of it," Garrus replied, "the techs were thorough with their search. If the weapon was here, they would have found it."

Inside the kitchen, Shepard closely inspected the knife set on the countertop. All the slots were filled as all the knives were accounted for. He then started going through the drawers. He stopped when he came to a drawer containing silverware. The drawer was well organized and nothing seemed out of place or missing, especially in the section where the knives were kept. He closed the drawer and returned to the living room. With the new information Shepard gained from the kitchen, he was ready to talk to Garrus.

"Well Detective Shepard," Garrus said when Shepard rejoined him, "you ready to give your initial thoughts on what happened here?"


	3. Chapter 3

Shepard almost felt like he was a performer on a stage in front of an audience. All the crime scene techs, Belon, T'Parro and Garrus were watching and waiting for him to speak. Fortunately speaking in front of a crowd was not something new to Shepard. During his military career, he had to give several motivation speeches to the soldiers under his command before entering into battle. Compared to those moments, giving his initial thoughts on the case was going to be a piece of cake.

"The first thing that I can tell you is that this was not a burglary gone wrong," Shepard began, "in fact it's not even a case of breaking and entering. Shara let her killer inside the apartment."

One of the crime scene techs chuckled at Shepard's statement, "you're already off to a bad start Detective. The door was hacked open, remember?"

"I do remember that," Shepard replied, "except the door was hacked after the murder had already been committed. The killer hacked it so that we would think this was a burglary."

"Why are you convinced this wasn't a burglary Shepard?" asked Garrus.

"Take a look around this apartment. There is no sign that anything was removed from here. Even if the killer had been spooked by Shara and had to kill her right when they entered, they wouldn't just take off without at least taking something for their trouble. They had plenty of time to do it. We know that none of the neighbors heard anything and Shara's body wasn't found until this morning. Besides that, I'm not seeing anything in this apartment that would make this place appealing to a would be burglar. A smart burglar would see that this place was too much risk for too little reward."

"Ok," said T'Parro, "so this wasn't a burglary. But why do you think that Shara would let her killer into her apartment? Those stab wounds on her body are serious overkill. Only someone who really hated her would stab her that many times. I can't see Shara letting someone in who hated her that much."

"A fair point T'Parro," Shepard replied, "it's true that it's not easy for anyone to stab a person twenty times. Even someone who was extremely fit would feel exhausted afterwards because of the energy and stamina it takes. The fact this killer did stab Shara twenty times indicates that, as you mentioned, they were so full of rage that they ignored any fatigue they were feeling to continue stabbing her. As for why Shara let someone who hated her that much into her apartment, it's because the killer was restrained enough not to appear threatening when Shara saw them on the viewing monitor and because the killer was someone she knew and trusted."

"How do you figure that?" asked Garrus.

Shepard gestured to the piles of broken glass, "in this room are the remains of two drinking glasses. Both of which still had some wine in them when they were broken. Shara had poured a drink for herself and a guest. She wouldn't do that for a complete stranger and certainly not someone who broke into her apartment. No she let her killer in because it was someone she knew. Someone she knew well and trusted enough that she didn't view them as a threat. Being a good host, she poured drinks and they sat down on the couch to talk. At some point, the conversation got heated. Garrus could you join me on the couch for a second please?"

Garrus did as Shepard asked and took a seat on the couch. Shepard sat down next to him while avoiding the glass pile directly in front of him.

"The conversation got so heated that the killer threw down his glass hard enough that it shattered when it hit floor," Shepard continued while acting out the motions he was describing, "whatever calmness the killer was showing vanished causing the rage T'Parro mentioned to emerge."

"And the sudden outburst causes Shara to stand up and nervously take a step back," Garrus chimed in while also acting out the motions he described, "then what happened?"

With Garrus as his role-playing partner, Shepard demonstrated the final sequence of events that led to Shara death. Shara tried to calm the killer down but was unable to as the killer's anger had reached the point of no return. It was at that point that the killer pulled out the knife. Upon seeing the knife, Shara threw her glass at the killer and tried to run away. However the killer was able to dodge it and the glass shattered when it hit the wall resulting in the other glass pile on the floor. Quickly recovering from the dodge, the killer charged at Shara and tackled her to the ground. From there, they got on top of Shara so she couldn't get up and proceeded to stab her. And that was the end of Shara'Vael vas Moreh.

"So it sounds like this was a crime of passion," said T'Parro, "the killer was just a friend having a drink with Shara when something set them off and they killed her."

"Not quite," said Shepard, "in order for this to have been a crime of passion, there can't be any premeditation involved on the killer's part. However the murder weapon is nowhere to be found and all of the knives Shara owns appear to be accounted for. If the killer didn't use any of the knives that were already in this apartment, then they had to have brought a knife with them and then left the apartment with it. The only reason the killer would have brought a knife with them was because they fully intended on killing Shara if the conversation they had didn't work out in their favor. In short, what we have here is not the result of a robbery gone wrong but a premeditated murder by someone Shara knew with a deep hatred for her that they were compelled to stab her twenty times."

The room was quiet after Shepard had finished explaining his thoughts. He tried to read the faces of everyone to get a sense of if they were impressed or not. It was a futile attempt as he was in a room of seasoned investigators who were trained in hiding what they were thinking. Eventually all eyes drifted towards Garrus. Shepard figured everyone was letting Garrus give the critique since he was the senior investigator in the room. The silence was getting to be deafening and Shepard was starting to wish Garrus would say something soon.

(CLAP...CLAP...CLAP)

"Well done Detective Shepard," Garrus said while clapping, "you passed with flying colors. All of your conclusions were exactly the same ones I made."

"Really?" Shepard said with a smile, "you're not just saying that to make me feel good?"

"Nope. Unlike certain people who purposely miss in a shooting contest, I tell people the truth regardless if it hurts them or not."

Shepard chuckled when Garrus brought up their shooting contest they had during the Reaper War. For the longest time Shepard thought Garrus was unaware that he only won the contest because Shepard purposely missed his last shot. Then Garrus revealed during the mystery backer mission that he knew the truth. Since then, anytime Shepard loss to Garrus in a contest, Garrus would jokingly ask Shepard if he had lost on purpose again.

"So partner," Shepard said to change the subject, "now that you've seen my detective skills in action, what do we do next?"

"We talk to Jala'Cal," Garrus replied, "the friend who found Shara's body. We'll see if she can tell us anything about who might have wanted to hurt Shara."

"I was wondering when we were going to talk to her. Why didn't we talk to her when we first got here?"

"Remember what I said about how a good detective gathers all the facts before reaching any conclusions? The same is true for when they're about to interview someone. By knowing some facts beforehand, we'll have an easier time noticing if Jala lies about something. I'm not saying I think she's the killer. It's just that a lot of times people will try to hide something they think isn't relevant to the investigation."

"Point taken."

T'Parro, where's Jala'Cal right now?"

"My partner is with her just down the hall." replied T'Parro "being near the crime scene was too much for her so I thought it best if she waited for you somewhere out of sight of all this. If you two will follow me, I'll take you to her."

"Lead the way T'Parro," said Shepard.

As they followed T'Parro out of the apartment, Shepard told Garrus about the items he examined on Shara's desk. Garrus replied that he would make sure one of the techs took the terminal back to headquarters to try and access the content on it. As for the picture, Garrus said it was a good find as it gave them another line of questioning for Jala. Statistically most murders were the result of domestic disputes which made any lovers Shara had the first suspects for them to consider. While Shepard agreed with that logic, something in his gut told him that Shara wasn't killed by the man in the photo. He wasn't quite sure why he felt that way though. Before he could discuss his hunch with Garrus, he noticed that T'Parro had stopped walking and was looking around with a confused expression.

"Something wrong T'Parro?" Garrus asked upon noticing the same thing.

"They're not here," T'Parro replied with a hint of nervousness in her voice, "I told my partner to have Jala wait here for you two. There's no reason for them to be anywhere else...unless..."

"What?" asked Shepard.

T'Parro didn't answer Shepard and instead pulled up her omni-tool to make a radio call, "this is T'Parro, does anyone have a twenty on Jorin?"

"Wilson here," replied a voice on T'Parro's omni-tool, "he left the building shortly after the detectives arrived. I asked him where he was going and all he said was he would be back in a few minutes with a surprise."

T'Parro rubbed her head like she was tending a headache, "not again. Well what did he do with Jala'Cal?"

"She's down in the lobby with me. I've been watching her since Jorin took off."

"All right. The detectives and I are on our way down. T'Parro out."

After finishing her call, T'Parro walked past Shepard and Garrus towards the elevator. Shepard looked to Garrus for an explanation but Garrus just shrugged his shoulders. They joined T'Parro in the elevator and rode it down to the lobby. The elevator had barely started moving when Wilson's voice was heard on T'Parro's omni-tool again. However he wasn't speaking in the calm professional tone he did earlier. Instead he was speaking in a loud, frantic tone which was barely heard over what sounded like a commotion in the background.

"We've got a situation down here! Jorin just got back with a quarian male in handcuffs and Jala attacked the guy the minute she saw him!"

Sure enough, when the elevator doors opened the trio was greeted by the sight of a scuffle. A quarian woman who Shepard and Garrus assumed was Jala'Cal was sitting on top of a handcuffed quarian male and viciously hitting him. Two C-SEC officers, a human and a turian were struggling to pull Jala off of the man. Shepard and Garrus charged out of the elevator to assist the officers. The extra manpower was enough to pull Jala off but that soon proved to be half the battle. They had to keep Jala restrained as she struggled to break free while shouting at the handcuffed male.

"LET ME GO! I'M NOT DONE WITH THAT MONSTER YET!"

"MONSTER?!" shouted the man as he was being helped up by T'Parro. "SAYS THE WOMAN WHO ATTACKED ME FOR NO REASON! OFFICERS WHAT IS GOING ON?! I DEMAND TO KNOW WHAT I'M DOING HERE!"

"ENOUGH!" Garrus shouted causing everyone to freeze. "Now we can work this out but everyone needs to calm down."

"Officer how do you expect me to be calm?" asked the male quarian. "This officer stormed into my office at the embassy, arrested me and brought me here without any sort of explanation."

"Watch it you," said the turian officer who Shepard was suspecting was the Jorin mentioned in the radio conversations T'Parro had before they arrived, "this is Detective Vakarian. You'll treat him with respect or you're going to find yourself in deeper trouble."

"Wait a minute," Shepard said, "sir did you say you work at the embassy?"

"Yes," the male quarain replied, "I'm Torro'Zal vas Raya, aide to Ambassador Tali'Zorah vas Normandy."

Shepard and Garrus looked nervously at each other after Torro identified himself. It was bad enough that Jorin had arrested a staff member from the quarian embassy but it also had to be the aide of the ambassador who happened to be Garrus' wife. They both knew things had just gotten messy in more ways than one. While Shepard was trying figure out how Jorin could be stupid enough to make such a giant mistake, Garrus looked at Jorin with probably the angriest glare Shepard had seen him give in awhile.

"Officer Kadarus!" Garrus scolded. "You are the one who's going to be in trouble if you don't have a good explanation for this."

Hearing Garrus scold him caused the turian officer, now identified as Jorin Kadarus to freeze up. Turian faces were normally hard to read but Shepard could pick up signs that Jorin was a little bit scared but mostly confused. It reminded Shepard of the way a kid would look when they didn't understand what they did wrong. When Jorin still didn't speak, Garrus scolded him some more.

"T'Parro said you were supposed to be watching Ms. Jala'Cal. Instead you leave your post, waltz into an embassy and bring out an ambassador's aide in handcuffs. Where in your orders did you get the idea you were supposed to risk causing a diplomatic incident?"

"De...Detective Vakarian sir," Jorin stuttered, "you don't understand. I just solved your case for you. While I was watching the friend, she told me that your victim had just ended a relationship with this guy. It was a really messy breakup as he didn't take it well."

"Wait," Torro interrupted, "are you talking about Shara? That's not..."

"Quiet you! I told you that you have the right to remain silent so I suggest you exercise it. Sorry sir. As I was saying, with that information and using my brilliant detective skills that I've been telling you about, I determined he snapped, broke into her apartment and killed her. It's a classic case of a jilted lover killing his ex after she broke his heart. Once we bring this guy back to C-SEC HQ and explain this to the quarian embassy, everything will be fine. The case will be closed and then we can talk about me finally becoming your partner."

All four C-SEC officers looked at Jorin with varied expressions. Neither one of them however were looking at him in a way that said they were impressed by his ''brilliant detective skills". Wilson, the human officer, seemed to be trying to hold back a laugh as he headed back to his post. T'Parro covered her face with her hand in an attempt to hide the embarrassment she was feeling. Garrus just rolled his eyes like he was used to hearing crazy stuff from Kadarus. As for Shepard, he was just trying to figure out what had just happened.

"Who is this guy?" he thought to himself. "And what did he mean about becoming Garrus' partner?"

"I'm all for that officer," Jala said interrupting Shepard's thoughts, "lock that monster up and throw away the key. Though he does deserve much worse for killing Shara the way he did."

Suddenly the pieces came together in Torro's head and his eyes started filling with tears, "Shara...Shara's dead? N...no she can't be. No!"

Torro dropped to his knees and began sobbing. If his hands had not been cuffed behind his back he likely would have covered his face with them. The sight of the broken quarian in front of him brought Shepard back to several moments in his military career when he had to give next of kin notifications after someone under his command had been killed in action. The reaction he was seeing was exactly the same as what he got from the people he notified. The initial confusion as they tried to figure out if they had heard correctly, the shock when they realized they had, a brief moment of denial and finally the overwhelming sadness when they accept the fact that their loved one was really dead. Everything Shepard was seeing seemed to prove his hunch that Shara's boyfriend wasn't the killer. Unfortunately Jorin didn't seem to think so as he moved to force Torro back onto his feet. Shepard instinctively stepped between the two men and gave Jorin his own angry look.

"Leave him alone," he scolded, "can't you see Mr. Torro'Zal is broken up. He just found out that someone he loved is dead."

Jorin looked at Shepard like he had lost his mind before turning to Garrus, "sir who is this officer and why is he protecting this scumbag?"

Shepard calmly pulled out his badge and held it up to Jorin's face, "I'm Detective Shepard, C-SEC Homicide and Detective Vakarian's new partner. I'm also not protecting a scumbag but an innocent man who is being wrongly accused of murder."

If Jorin was confused before by the scolding he got from Garrus when he was expecting to be praised for making an arrest, then he was completely lost after Shepard had finished speaking. Shepard didn't know if it was because Jorin was surprised to hear Garrus had a new partner already or because of the fact he had told Jorin that the man he arrested was innocent. Once again however his thoughts were interrupted by an outburst from Jala.

"INNOCENT?! THAT MONSTER KILLED MY BEST FRIEND AND YOU'RE CALLING HIM INNOCENT?! WHAT KIND OF A DETECTIVE ARE YOU?!"

"Ms. Jala'Cal," Garrus said in an attempt to calm Jala down, "I'm sure my partner has a good reason for his theory and he'll tell us what it is if you just let him finish."

"BUT...!" Jala said before being cut of by Jorin who had come out of his shock.

"But sir, you didn't hear the stuff that she told me. Once you do, you'll see that I'm right and that this so-called detective IS protecting a murderer."

Garrus was about to scold Jorin again but was stopped when he noticed Shepard shaking his head, "it's okay partner. Officer Kadarus does have a point. We did after all come down her to talk to Ms. Jala'Cal to get some insight into who would have wanted Ms. Shara'Vael dead. Let's hear what she has to say. Please, go ahead Ms. Jala'Cal. Tell us why you're so sure that Mr. Torro'Zal killed your friend."

"Like I told Officer Kadarus," Jala said after taking a calming breath, "the two of them were together for almost a year until Shara broke it off yesterday. To say Torro didn't take it well would be a massive understatement. Shara called me last night crying because of how badly it went. She said he exploded and she was afraid he was going to hit her. Thankfully he didn't but the last thing he said to her was that if he couldn't have her then no one could. The reason I offered to take her shopping today was to help cheer her up. But thanks to him that didn't happen. Don't you see, he just couldn't get over her breaking up with him so he killed her."

"What?" Torro said after he had started regaining some composure. "I loved Shara. I would never hurt her. Besides that's not what hap..."

Jorin rolled his eyes, "that's what they all say. See sir, it's just like I said. A classic case of murder by a scorned ex-lover. I'm sure Detective Shepard meant well but I think it's plain to see he's not ready for the homicide desk. We can talk about my taking his place as your partner once we get back to HQ."

Shepard should have been insulted by what Jorin was saying but he was too busy thinking about something else. He had watched and listened carefully while Jala explained her reasoning for suspecting Torro of being the killer. Though he hadn't been trained by C-SEC, his time in the Alliance featured several occasions where he had to question people and he had picked up a few tricks in telling if they were lying or not. As he listened to Jala, a couple of alarms went off in his head. The first thing he noticed was that her entire case for Torro's guilt was based on his supposed reaction the day of the breakup. It was true that no one would take being broken up with well but that didn't automatically make them willing to kill over it. They usually also needed to have a history of violent, angry outbursts but Jala didn't mention Torro having anything like that. If there was anything in Torro's past that would further prove he was capable of murder, Shepard wasn't seeing it and for some reason Jala wasn't sharing it.

The other thing that bothered Shepard was that Jala didn't even mention the reason for the breakup. If it wasn't because Torro had an abusive nature, then what other reason would Shara have had for breaking up with him? Of the few reasons for a relationship falling apart that Shepard could think of off the top of his head, none of them seemed like a logical motive for murder. Again it was strange that Jala was not giving more details that would help catch her best friend's killer.

The last thing that was bothering Shepard was not something that Jala said. While giving her statement, Shepard noticed that Jala would occasionally throw Torro nasty looks. Anybody else would have likely guessed it was because she was angry with Torro for murdering her friend but Shepard felt like there was something else to it. There was definitely anger in Shara's eyes but it seemed like that was all there was in them. She didn't have any of the pain or sadness a person would feel about someone they knew killing their friend.

It was only when Shepard applied one final piece of evidence that things made sense. The evidence was something that had been on his mind ever since he found it and was the thing that made him initially believe that Shara's lover (now revealed to be Torro) was not the killer. He just hadn't figured out why until he heard Jala's statement. With his mind made up, he walked over to Garrus and whispered something to him. Garrus was initially surprisd by what Shepard said but then his eyes crossed with anger as he turned to address Jorin. Sensing that he was about to be scolded again, Jorin took a few cautious steps back as Garrus approached him.

"Officer Kadarus!" Garrus said sternly, "we are not going to back to HQ because we are going to take Mr. Torro'Zal back to the quarian embassy. On the way there, the only thing we are going to be talking about is how you are going to apologize for WRONGFULLY ARRESTING AN AMBASSADOR'S AIDE!"

"But...but sir..." Jorin tried to speak.

"THAT'S AN ORDER! Officer T'Parro, will you give my partner and Ms. Jala'Cal a ride back to HQ?"

"Yes sir," T'Parro replied anxiously as she had been waiting to get out of the embarassing situation her partner was causing.

A stunned Jala could only watch as Garrus helped Torro up to his feet and led him and Jorin out of the building and to the parking lot. She would have remained speechless until Shepard and T'Parro approached her and she saw that Shepard was pulling out handcuffs.

"WHAT THE HELL DETECTIVE!" she shouted. "YOU'RE ARRESTING ME BUT LETTING THAT MURDERER WALK?!"

"Enough Ms. Jala'Cal!" Shepard said in an authoritative tone, "I have to say that I'm really surprised at you. As Ms. Shara'Vael's friend, you should be wanting to do everything you can to help us catch her killer. Instead the only thing you've been doing is lie to us in an attempt to get the wrong man arrested for the crime."


	4. Chapter 4

Jala didn't take Shepard's last statement very well. Before Shepard could start to put the handcuffs on her wrists, Jala started calling him several names that Shepard would never allow himself to repeat. On top of that, she accused him of wrongfully calling her a liar. Officer T'Parro, who was at that moment having to hold Jala still so that Shepard could put on the cuffs, gave Shepard a nervous look as she was wondering if Jala's accusation was right.

Despite the difficulty Jala was causing him, Shepard appeared completely unfazed by everything she was shouting. In fact, a sly smile appeared on his face when Jala made her accusation. The reason for the smile was because he knew something that Jala didn't. One of the things Shepard had learned about interrogations was that it was important to never accuse someone of lying without proof. To do so would give ammunition for a defense lawyer in a trial. Shepard didn't have to worry about that though because he had proof that Jala had been lying to him and he was ready to reveal it to her.

"Ms. Jala'Cal," he said when he finally locked the cuffs on Jala's wrists, "you told us you believed that Mr. Torro'Zal killed Ms. Shara'Vael because he couldn't get over her breaking up with him. Except the truth is that he was the one who broke up with her. I found a picture of the two of them embracing on Ms. Shara'Vael's desk. It had been pulled down so that was how I already knew that things weren't going well between them. The thing is, if she had been the one who broke it off, she would have deleted the picture completely. Sure she pulled the picture down because she was heartbroken by him breaking up with her and it was difficult for her to look at the picture anymore. But I wouldn't be surprised if she couldn't delete the picture because she was secretly hoping that they would work it out and get back together."

Unknown to Jala and T'Parro, Shepard was speaking from experience with his deductions. Back in the early years of his and Ashley's relationship, their relationship hit a rough patch when a series of events and misunderstandings led to Ashley calling Shepard a traitor and refusing to join him on his current mission. Shepard didn't take her rejection well and at one point almost found himself pulling down a picture of Ashley he had in his cabin similarly to what Shara did to the picture of her in Torro. The only thing that stopped him was that, in his mind, pulling picture would mean it was over between him and Ashley. As unpleasant as that experience had been for Shepard, it was that memory that was giving Shepard the insight he needed to make his deduction.

"That would also explain why you looked at Torro like you wanted to kill him. It wasn't because he killed your friend but because he broke your best friends heart. Ms. Jala'Cal, I can understand your wanting to get back at the guy who broke up with your friend but trying to get him arrested for a murder he didn't commit at the risk of letting Ms. Shara'Vael's real killer go free was an absolutely terrible thing to do. Jala'Cal vas Tonbay, you are under arrest for obstruction of justice."

Shepard then gestured for T'Parro to lead Jala outside while he started reading Jala's rights. The whole trip to the skycar, Shepard could see Jala's stunned expression as she processed how her lie had been caught. Eventually the guilt started to set in and she began to cry. It was hard for Shepard not feel sorry for Jala. Between finding her best friend murdered and being arrested, she was not having a great day. True she had herself to blame for getting arrested but it was still something she shouldn't have to go through after suffering a terrible loss. Once the trio arrived at the skycar, Shepard asked T'Parro to sit in the back and comfort Jala. Normally Shepard would jump to the aid of someone who was sad but in that instant he had to leave T'Parro to do that. He needed to get what happened with Jala and Torro out of his mind and focus on the bigger problem. Shara's killer was still out there and Garrus was going to be rejoining him at C-SEC HQ to hit the ground running on figuring out who it was.

* * *

Sitting in an office at the quartan embassy, Garrus was taping his fingers on the armrest of his chair while rubbing his forehead and taking some calming breaths. A datapad sat on a dessk in front of him. He pulled up his omni-tool to check the time. His meeting was supposed to have started already but he didn't mind. He enjoyed the chance to relax after the fireworks he had endured. In the last hour, he had managed to avoid a diplomatic incident…and possibly a divorce.

When he and Jorin arrived at the embassy with Torro, Garrus' wife, Ambassador Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, was there to greet them with a look that Garrus had seen whenever he made Tali mad in the past. Tali didn't say a word and instead gestured for the group to follow her to her office. It was after they entered the office and the door was closed that the fireworks went off. Garrus thought he had chewed Jorin out hard at the crime scene but Tali practically grounded him to pieces by calling him a "stupid, muscle-headed bosh'tet" and rhetorically asking what gave him the right to storm into the embassy and drag her aide out in handcuffs. Jorin stammered as he tried to defend himself but Tali wouldn't give him the chance to finish a sentence. When Tali was done yelling at Jorin, she turned to Garrus and told him about how she had been receiving a lot of pressure to take diplomatic action over the incident. Some of the staff were even wondering if she could be trusted to make an unbiased decision since she was married to a C-SEC officer. Garrus just kept quiet while Tali ranted as he thought of how he could resolve the situation in a way that would make all sides happy. Since Jorin was (somehow) a C-SEC officer, Garrus felt it was his responsibility to discipline him for his actions. However the quarian embassy did deserve a role in punishing Jorin since he falsely arrested a diplomat without going through proper diplomatic channels. Ultimately the question was should Jorin be punished according to C-SEC's procedures or the embassy's. He weighed the pros and cons of both options in his mind until he noticed Tali was done speaking and giving him an evil stare that was practically daring him to say something.

The situation was resolved when Torro surprised everyone by stating he didn't want charges pressed against Jorin. He acknowledged that he should want Jordin punished for everything he had been put through by the false arrest but none of that compared to the pain he was feeling since learning that the woman he loved had been murdered. As a result, the only thing Torro wanted was for C-SEC to find the killer and he knew they couldn't effectively do that if they were trying to resolve a diplomatic incident. Though it wasn't the outcome anyone expected (or in Tali's case, wanted), both parties agreed to honor Torro's request.

The remaining minutes of the past hour saw Jorin being sent back to C-SEC HQ relieved to have dodged a bullet. Though Garrus knew that he and everyone in C-SEC would be keeping a closer eye on him to make sure he didn't find himself in a similar situation again. At the same time, Torro left with Tali to address the rest of the embassy staff. The majority of staff would likely still want action taken against Jorin but Torro's appeal would significantly help calm everyone's anger. As for Garrus, he was waiting in Torro's office. Torro agreed before leaving with Tali that he would meet Garrus there to answer questions about Shara once he finished addressing the staff. In between forehead rubs and calming breaths, Garrus glanced at his datapad to review his notes for the upcoming meeting.

C-SEC had sent him everything they had on Shara. According to the files, both of her parents were deceased and she had no siblings. After the Reaper War was over, she had chosen not to live on Rannoch and found her way to the Citadel. She found employment with the Citadel Peacekeepers, the local biotaball team. Working her way up the ranks, she eventually became in charge of promoting support for the team. Garrus had a feeling that was a tough job since the Peacekeepers didn't have one of the best records in the league. Despite that, there were many die-hard fans who rooted for the team season after season. No doubt Shara played a small part in building up the fan base. Garrus had just wrapped up his reading when the door to the office opened and Torro entered.

"Sorry for taking so long Detective," he said as he took a seat opposite Garrus.

"No worries Mr. Torro'Zal," Garrus replied, "I take it that things have settled down out there?"

Torro let out an exhausted sigh, "as settled as can be. Some of the staff feel that by letting this incident slide it might make us look like we can be pushed around. After spending nearly three centuries being viewed as second-class citizens by the rest of the galaxy, that wouldn't help the work we've done to escape that since the Reaper War ended. However my appeal did help soften them a little bit. I told them that we needed to focus on the more important problem. One of our own has been brutally murdered and the killer is still out there. Reluctant though it may be, you now have the complete support of the quarian embassy."

"Thank you Mr. Torro'Zal and my partner and I will do everything we can to find Shara's killer."

"Please Detective, just call me Torro. It's funny, it used to be quarians couldn't take C-SEC's word seriously because of how we were viewed by the galaxy. However the ambassador does speak highly of you. As for your partner, even if he didn't already have such a legendary reputation, what I witnessed when we met tells me that he's more than up to the job. So, thank you."

Garrus smiled before turning his attention back to his datapad, "tell me Torro, how long were you and Shara together?"

"Just about a year. We met at her work."

"You met her at the Peacekeeper's stadium?"

"That's correct. Some of the embassy staff planned a group outing to one of their games. Shara had heard we were coming and thought it would be a good promotion if one of us threw out the first ball. Since I was the senior staff member, she asked if I would do it. After I did, she thanked me for volunteering, we got to talking and we hit it off. We had our first date later that week and before I knew it, we were boyfriend and girlfriend. That year we were together was the best time of my life. (sob) To be honest, a couple of weeks ago I was thinking of asking her to marry me."

As Torro told his story, Garrus saw the gradual change in Torro's expression from happy reminiscing to sadness. But there was something else about the sadness. Torro almost seemed to be feeling remorseful about something. From what Garrus and Shepard had learned in their investigation up to that point, Garrus already knew Shara and Torro's relationship had a falling out. Thanks to Shepard's deduction, he also knew Torro was the one who broke it off. However the way Torro was acting seemed to indicate that he was having some second thoughts about it. That would explain why he was taking Shara's death especially hard since her death meant he lost any chance of undoing his decision. Everything Garrus was seeing seemed to indicate that Torro really loved Shara. So why would he break up with her?

"But you broke up with her instead. What happened between then and now that lead to things falling apart between you two?"

Torro shrugged his shoulders, "it seems so stupid now. We both had packed schedules with our jobs but we always found time to have a date night every week. The last couple of weeks though we haven't had a date night because she kept cancelling. She said it was because she had to work late. The first couple of times she did that I was okay with it. But then it kept happening and I started to get suspicious."

"Why? Hasn't there been times in the past where she had to work late a lot?"

"Detective, the thing about Shara is that she was always good at getting her work done on time so that she never had to work late. During the entire time we were dating, these past couple of weeks were the first time she ever had to work late. I just couldn't understand what was going on at her job that she needed to put in so many extra hours."

Garrus started wondering the same thing. The Peacekeepers may not have been doing well but their fans were loyal to a fault and thus Shara shouldn't haven needed to work too hard to promote support for them. Suddenly a troubling thought entered Garrus' mind when he remembered something he saw on his datapad while he was waiting for Torro to arrive. It was in the file that contained Shara's financial information. He asked Torro to wait a second while he pulled up the file again. Looking at the entires that showed the deposits that Shara received from work, he noticed what was troubling him. The deposits didn't increase since Shara had started cancelling date nights to work late. By all accounts it looked like Shara was working the same amount of hours each week that she always had. Why then was she saying she had to cancel dates because she had to work late?

"I'm guessing you're realizing the same thing I did," Torro said causing Garrus to look up from his datapad, "she was never working late."

"Yeah," Garrus replied, "how did you find out though?"

"Yesterday she had to cancel date night again and I was getting restless from not having seen her at all for weeks. I thought I'd surprise her by bringing dinner to her office. When I got to her office, she wasn't there. I found one of her coworkers and said that Shara had told me that she was working late again that night but he said that she had already left for the day. He was also confused when I said she was working late "again" because, as far as he knew, she never stayed late."

"So after you found out she had been lying about where she was, what did you do next?"

"I left her office and went straight to her apartment. She wasn't home but she gave me the code to her door so I let myself in to wait for her. It was several hours later when she finally got home. After the initial shock she had upon seeing me, I confronted her with what I found out. Even with my proof, she insisted that she was cancelling our dates because of work. I asked her to tell me exactly what she was doing but she wouldn't tell me. I pressed and pressed but all she said was that she wanted to tell me but she couldn't. Well that was when I finally exploded. I told her that after all the time we spent together, she should have known that she could tell me anything. If she couldn't see that, then we didn't deserve to be together. I stormed out of her place and went home. (sob) Kee'lah, what have I done?"

"I'm sorry?"

"What if what she was working on was dangerous. That means she was just trying to protect me by keeping me in the dark. (sniffle) Then I go and throw her concern right back in her face and left her alone to be killed. Maybe she'd still be alive if I had just been more patient with her and stayed at her place a little longer. The woman I love is dead because of me!"

Up until that point in the interview, Torro had managed to keep himself composed. Now that the pain he felt over losing Shara was mixing with guilt he was feeling for his possible role in her death, he couldn't keep it together anymore. Garrus remained silent to let Torro grieve. What he was seeing was a scene that played out in front of him during all his previous interviews with the loved ones of murder victims. Though their were slight variations from person to person, they all went through the stages of grief. The stage Torro was at was the guilty stage. It was irrational thinking for sure but Torro couldn't help but feel that he was partially responsible for Shara being killed. It may have been irrational but Garrus could sympathize with how Torro was feeling. He went through the same exact stages when he lost his mercenary squad during his vigilante days on Omega.

Realizing he was about to flashback to an unpleasant time in his life, Garrus decided it was time to wrap up the interview. He felt he had learned all that he could from Torro anyway. When he finished gathering his things, he slowly put a comforting hand on Torro's shoulder. This caused to Torro to look up at him.

"Listen to me Torro," Garrus said, "you are not responsible for what happened to Shara. And despite what happened the last time you saw her, I have no doubt that she knew how much you loved her. I know it will be hard but I suggest you go home and get some rest. After everything that's happened I'm sure the ambassador would approve."

Torro nodded, "yes…yes I suppose I should. Thank you Detective and give my thanks to your partner. I wish you both luck in your investigation."

Garrus shook Torro's hand and started to walk out of the office, "don't worry Torro. We'll find out who did this and bring them to justice. I promise."

* * *

Back at C-SEC HQ, Shepard was putting the finishing touches on a project he had been working on while waiting for Garrus to return from the embassy. After leaving Jala with T'Parro to be processed for obstruction charges, he compiled all the presently known facts of the case and organized them onto a holographic board. One of the things Garrus showed him on his first day was how the other detectives used what he called "murder boards" to help keep their facts and evidence organized and on display for quick referral. Though he had never used a "murder board" himself, Shepard could see how it would be helpful for the case. He always viewed his deductive process as being similar to putting pieces of a puzzle together. By having the "pieces" visually displayed, it could potentially make it easier for him to see how they go together. Secretly Shepard wished he would be able to solve this puzzle without having to gather all the pieces but he knew that the more he had, the better chance he and Garrus would have with getting a conviction after the killer had been identified.

Shepard barely finished working on the board when he heard Garrus approach him, "very impressive Shepard. It's hard to believe this is the first murder board you've put together."

"Thanks Gar…," Shepard started to say as he turned around but stopped when he noticed the exhausted expression on Garrus' face, "uh…forgive me Garrus but you look terrible."

Garrus sighed, "I know. All I can say is I'm glad to be out of the embassy. We managed to dodge a bullet with Kadarus' screwup but it's probably going to be awhile before I get back on Tali's good side."

"Sorry partner. What's the deal with Kadarus anyway? The way you and T'Parro acted, this clearly wasn't the first time that he's screwed up. Sounds like he should have been kick off the force a long time ago."

"You're right. Unfortunately he happens to be the executor's son-in-law. We're just lucky that Torro convinced the quarians not to press charges. The executor wouldn't have hesitated bailing his daughter's husband out of trouble even if it meant breaking the trust C-SEC has been working to earn with the quarians. While Bailey can't have Kadarus fired, he's at least able to keep him from becoming a homicide detective."

"Yeah I noticed he seems determined to become your partner in particular. What's up with that?"

"The best way for me to explain it is that he is my personal Conrad Verner."

The name Garrus mentioned was one that Shepard knew well, but not in an entirely good way. Conred Verner was a human Shepard met on the Citadel back when the Reapers first came to his attention. It quickly became apparent that Conrad was a fan of Shepard. The first time Shepard talked with him, Conrad asked for an autograph. When they met again after Shepard became a Spectre, Conrad asked to take a picture of him. They seemed like harmless requests so Shepard obliged both times. The third time they met was when Shepard realized how unhealthy Conrad obsession with him was. Conrad wanted Shepard to recommend him for Spectre status. Knowing that Conrad's lack of training and experience made him unqualified to be a Spectre, Shepard declined. Despite Conrad insisting that he would be a great Spectre and that he wanted to be out there with Shepard fighting the good fight, Shepard was able to change his mind by pointing out that he played an important role in keeping humanity strong on the home-front.

Whatever good Shepard's advice to Conrad did was undone when Shepard was killed in a surprise attack. Feeling that someone had to fill the void left by Shepard's absence, Conrad left his home and made it his mission to help people like Shepard did. A mission he still pursued even after Shepard had been brought back to life. Unfortunately his naive and gullible nature kept getting him into trouble. Shepard was there to witness two such instances and was able to help him out both times.

In the end, Conrad did finally earn some respect from Shepard when he not only provided some scientific help constructing the Crucible, the weapon used to defeat the Reapers for good, but he dove to take a bullet meant for Shepard. Fortunately Jenna, another acquaintance of Shepard's, was able to remotely sabotage the assailant's gun so Conrad didn't actually have to take the bullet. Even so, the gesture was more than enough to show Shepard he had underestimated Conrad's bravery. The last Shepard heard, Conrad and Jenna were still volunteering to help people in need and recently got married. Thus bringing a happy end to a frustrating but interesting side story in Shepard's fight against the Reapers.

Now it sounded like Garrus was having a similar problem with Jorin. In Shepard's view, the only thing that was making Jorin more troublesome than Conrad was the fact that unlike Conrad, Jorin had an authoritative position that made his mistakes have more far reaching repercussions. If he were to somehow become a homicide detective, Shepard had a feeling a lot of killers would escape justice. The thought of that sent a shiver up Shepard's spine.

"You know," Garrus continued, "after my last partnership didn't work out, I was hearing rumors that the executor was pressuring Bailey to finally give Kadarus a chance and partner him with me since I had already gone through every other available homicide detective on the force."

"I guess it's all the more reason for us to be thankful that he decided to promote me instead," Shepard said with a smile.

"Indeed but enough about Kadarus. I can only talk about him for so long without getting a headache. I see you've added the information I gathered at the embassy to the board. Tell me Detective Shepard, what do the facts tell us so far."

Shepard turned to face the board as he spoke, "we know that Shara started regularly cancelling date nights with Torro a few weeks ago. She claimed it was because she had to work late but her finances don't show any increases in her paychecks to reflect that she had been working extra hours. When confronted by Torro about it, she could only say that she wants to tell him the truth but for some reason she could't. Sometime after Torro left, Shara ended up dead. I don't know what it was that happened a few weeks ago that prompted the sudden secrecy in Shara's behavior but I've got a feeling that it has something to do with why she was murdered."

"I agree and that's why it's crucial we figure out what happened ourselves. Normally the way to find an explanation for a sudden change in a victim's behavior is to talk to the people who knew them the best."

"Unfortunately I think that's going to be tough," Shepard sighed, "Torro has told us everything that he knows and Jala's been in a less than talkative mood ever since we arrested her for obstruction. Not that we would be able to use anything she says anyway since all she's told us so far are lies. So if we can't get help from her fiancé or her best friend, who do we talk to next."

"The people who would be able to notice a change in her behavior because they see her everyday: her coworkers."


	5. Chapter 5

The Citadome, home of the Citadel Peacekeepers. That was what the sign said above the entry gate that Garrus' skycar approached. In the passenger seat, Shepard was having a hard time resisting the urge to roll his eyes. He felt like someone took the lazy route when coming up with the name for the stadium. Then again, it was at least comforting that the the building wasn't named after a business that sponsored the team like some of the other athletic stadiums Shepard had heard of. Name aside, there was nothing else funny about the stadium. Quite the contrary. like the Citadel itself, the building was a sight to behold. Having only seen the stadium on his TV at home whenever he watched the games, Shepard couldn't believe how much bigger it was in person. Even though they had a bit of a drive to reach the stadium, Shepard had to lean forward in his seat in order to see the entire thing from bottom to top.

"Can I help you gentleman?"

The new voice took Shepard's focus off the stadium. He turned to face the driver's side and saw that a guard had emerged from the nearby booth and approached their car. The tone in his voice revealed that he was confused by Shepard and Garrus' arrival. That wasn't surprising though since there wasn't a game scheduled that day and the only people the guard would expect to come through the gate on an off day were Peacekeeper personnel. The guard relaxed a little bit when Garrus held up his badge. Once Garrus explained who he and Shepard were and why they wanted to be let inside, the guard signaled for the gate to be opened and told Garrus to head for the main entrance.

One thing Shepard noted as he and Garrus continued their approach was how empty the parking lot was. Watching the games on his TV, the parking lot was always packed to the brim with skycars. Seeing it in person on an off day, it felt like a deserted ghost town. If it wasn't for a few cars parked in the rows closest to the stadium, Shepard would have felt like he and Garrus were the only people there. Following the guard's instructions, Garrus pulled into a parking spot close to the main entrance. As he and Shepard got out of the car, they saw a krogan inside the building approaching the main door. The two had no doubt the guard at the booth had called ahead to have someone come unlock the door for them. By the time they reached the door, it was unlocked and they were greeted inside by an asari. While the asari greeted Shepard and Garrus with a friendly smile, the krogan they saw unlock the door stared intensely at them. Shepard thought he even heard the krogan subtly growl at them.

"Welcome to the Citadome gentlemen," the asari said, "my name is Vala Isali. I'm the Citadel Peacekeeper's legal advocate. This is Kormer Maul, chief of security."

Shepard and Garrus shared confused looks with each other. They expected to be greeted by a regular security guard and a receptionist who would direct them where they needed to go. Instead they were greeted by the head security guard and a lawyer. This was weird for them because all Garrus had told the guard at the gate was that they came to the Citadome to make some inquires about Shara. Though he was vague on what the inquires were about, Garrus hadn't said anything that should have made the guard call in the big guns.

Recovering quickly from their confusion, Shepard and Garrus each shook Vala's hand. When they attempted to shake Maul's hand however, they instead received another subtle growl from him. This sent a small nervous chill up their spines. Though they both knew that not all krogan were dangerous, especially since one of their best friends was a krogan, they also knew it was dangerous to provoke one. Between Maul's size and the fact he had been giving them dirty looks and growls since they met, Shepard and Garrus felt they were only one misstep away from setting him off.

"Nice to meet you both," Garrus said quickly hoping small talk would defuse Maul's temper, "I'm Detective Vakarian and this is my partner Detective Shepard. We're here to ask some questions about…."

"We know why you're here," Maul growled, "my man at the gate told us. What we want to know is why C-SEC wants to ask questions about one of our people."

"Because Chief," Shepard said coming to Garrus' aid, "Ms. Shara'Vael was found murdered in her apartment this morning."

"Oh my," Vala said while covering her mouth in shock.

Maul on the other hand didn't show any reaction other continuing to angrily stare at Shepard and Garrus. It was like Shepard's answer wasn't enough to satisfy him and he was waiting for them to give more information before he decided to throw them out. Shepard obliged this by expanding on his answer.

"We know that she worked in promotions for the Peacekeepers," he said, "we were hoping to talk to her coworkers to see if they can give us some insights into her life and possibly who might have wanted her dead."

"You mean you think that someone in this organization killed her!" Maul shouted. "do you have a warrant?"

"Maul!" Vala scolded, "let me handle this!"

"If they don't have a warrant, then there's nothing for you to handle which means I can throw them out!"

Up until that point, both Shepard and Garrus had been trying to keep things calm so as not to provoke Maul. Now that he was threatening to throw them out, all bets were off. For anyone else, an angry krogan was a cue to run for the hills. But Shepard and Garrus were not like everyone else. They had both fought krogan, as a team and on their own, and won. So instead of running, Shepard and Garrus put their hands by their sidearms, held up one hand each and stood their ground.

"Don't even think about it," Garrus said sternly, "now listen Chief, you are making this more difficult than it needs to be. My partner and I are not here on a witch hunt. We are here to ask questions, that is it. Now stand down, let us do our job and then we'll leave."

Maul didn't really appear keen on obeying Garrus' order. Instead the order seemed to make him want to forget about simply throwing the two detectives out and just tear them to shreds. What Maul didn't know was that Garrus was not expecting him to follow the order. If there was anyone who could get Maul to stand down, Garrus thought, it was Vala. Thus, while the order was directed at the chief, Garrus issued it for Vala to see. Sure enough, Garrus noticed that Vala realized how serious he was and threw Maul a disapproving look.

"Maul!" She shouted. "Do what Detective Vakarian says! Don't make me call Lyle about this!"

Vala was referring to Lyle Wilkinson, the owner of the Citadel Peacekeepers. As the owner, Wilkinson was the one who signed Maul's paychecks and could fire him if he wanted. This made him one of the few people that Maul would be afraid of since one thing that scared krogan was not getting a payday. Faced with the new threat of having to get an earful from his boss, Maul let out one final growl and walked away.

"Fine," he mumbled as he left, "I need to get back to work anyway."

With the situation back to a relaxing level, Shepard and Garrus each breathed a sigh of relief as they moved their hands away from their weapons. Shepard was starting to wonder if all homicide cases were filled with as many tense situations as he and Garrus had experienced in the few hours they'd been on the case. He put the thought out of his mind when he noticed Vala rubbing her forehead as if she were tending a headache.

"I'm terribly sorry about that detectives," she said, "I know the chief's behavior was out of line but you must understand this is a potentially serious situation for the organization."

Shepard raised an eyebrow in confusion, "I don't understand Ms. Isali. We've repeatedly said we are just here to ask questions about Shara. How is that a serious situation for the Peacekeepers?"

Vala looked at Shepard like he had asked a stupid question, "you obviously don't know a lot about the world of professional sports Detective Shepard. You may think that all the action happens on the field but that is far from true. Between the fans, the press and even C-SEC, there are a lot of eyes watching what happens off the field. Sadly they tend to focus on finding the scandalous and controversial stuff. They want to see athletes doing drugs, having affairs, abusing their loved ones, etc. The Peacekeepers take pride in being a family-friendly organization and yet there have been several attempts from the groups I've mentioned to uncover something that would tarnish that. So when we hear two C-SEC detectives are coming to ask questions about one of their people, we instantly assume the worst."

"So that's why a lawyer and the chief of security came to meet us down here," Garrus said.

"Correct," Vala replied, "I was sent down here in case any legal protection was needed. Now that I know the reason you are here though, I can see that it won't be necessary. Rest assured that from here on out you will have the complete support of the Peacekeepers organization."

"Thank you Ms. Isali," replied Shepard, "we really do appreciate that. Believe us when we say we're not here to cause scandal or controversy for the Peacekeepers. We just want to find Shara's killer."

"Of course. Now I imagine you two would like to see Shara's office. If you'll follow me, I'll take you there."

Shepard and Garrus thanked Vala again and proceeded to follow her. Along the way, they passed several giant pictures of past Peacekeeper players on the walls. Many of which had symbols in the corner to indicate they were in the biotaball hall of fame. They were the stars of the Peacekeeper's golden years. There were also some pictures of entire teams from the years the Peacekeepers won championships. Upon first glance at the number of championships, a person would think the Peacekeepers were a successful team. It was only upon looking at the years the championships were won that the truth was revealed. The golden years of the Peacekeepers had not been recaptured for quite some time.

Having lived on the Citadel longer than Shepard, Garrus acted like a tour guide as he told Shepard the story of the rise and fall of the Peacekeepers. For centuries, the Peacekeepers could do no wrong. They attracted the best players in Citadel space and didn't have a decade go by where they didn't win at least one championship. That all changed seventy-five years ago when the Peacekeepers made the controversial decision to trade their best player for three up and coming stars from a rival team. The rumors were that they thought the player they traded was getting too old and they wanted to get some young blood on the team. This did not sit well with the player. She was later quoted in the press saying that the Peacekeepers had made a big mistake and that she wouldn't be surprised if they didn't win a championship ever again. Unknown to everyone at the time, that was the beginning of what became known as the Peacekeeper Curse. The next year, the Peacekeepers failed to even make the playoffs. The three up and coming stars they acquired in the trade had the worst seasons of their careers. No one could remember the last time the Peacekeepers had a season as bad as that year. Alas bad seasons quickly became the norm the following years. Making things worse, the asari matriarch who had been the owner of the team during the golden years had passed away. The organization would then go through several new owners with each one hoping they could rebuild the team back to its championship glory days only to be met with failure each time.

It was at that point of Garrus' story that he and Shepard passed a picture of human male who didn't look like a player. This was due to the fact he was wearing a nice suit instead of a team uniform. Garrus identified the man as Lyle Wilkinson, the team's current owner. According to Garrus, Wilkinson became the first human to own the Peacekeepers when he bought the team ten years ago. The first thing he did upon taking over was retire the number of the player whose trade caused the curse and posthumously awarded her a spot in the Peacekeeper's hall of fame. By formally acknowledging that the trade was a mistake, Wilkinson's hope was that it would lift the curse. Sure enough, under his leadership, the team finally started to see its luck turn around. Their regular season records were consistently among, if not the best in the league and they were making frequent playoff appearances again. Yet despite lifting the curse and all the progress Wilkinson had made in improving the team, a championship season was always just out of reach.

"Needles to say," Garrus said as he wrapped up his story, "some of the fans have begun to lose hope. Every year since Wilkinson took over, they've been excitedly watching him get the team ready to win it all only for them to choke just short of the finish line."

"Which is why this organization has relied on Ms. Shara'Vael and the rest of our promotions team to keep interest and support in the Peacekeepers alive," said Vala, "from what I've heard, some of the best ideas came from her. She will be greatly missed by this organization."

When Vala had finished speaking, the trio had reached Shara's office. Shepard and Garrus thanked Vala for guiding them and asked her to send the rest of the promotions team to the office so they could interview them. Vala nodded and left them alone to begin their search. The office was about as big as most of the offices Shepard and Garrus had seen before. It featured a desk, a chair, three chairs on the opposite side of the desk for visitors, some bookshelves and assorted decorations on the walls. Between the two detectives, it wasn't going to take long to search the whole room.

While Garrus examined the decorations on the walls, Shepard went through the contents on and inside Shara's desk. At first glance it didn't seem too different from the setup of the desk in her apartment. One notable difference though was that there was an upright picture of Shara with Torro. Not that Shepard was surprised. The blowup between them happened at her apartment and she was murdered shortly afterwards so there was no way she could have come to her office to pulldown the picture in her office. Besides the picture, the only other thing of interest on Shara's desk was the terminal. It was password protected but Shepard knew that the tech's would be able to crack it once he and Garrus delivered it to them. More so they needed to be able to crack it. If Torro's hunch was right about something at Shara's work getting her killed, there could be a clue on the terminal that would explain what it was.

"You find anything?" Shepard asked when he was done examining the desk.

"Nothing that's related to our case but still some interesting stuff," Garrus replied, "take a look at some of these pictures."

Shepard joined Garrus at one of the walls that ran from the desk to the door. Scattered across it were pictures of Shara posing with various people Shepard recognized. It was practically a wall of fame featuring Shara with the who's who of the Citadel. Celebrities, politicians, and CEO's of major companies, Shara had been with them all. In each picture, the person posing with Shara was wearing Peacekeeper apparel. Shepard couldn't help but be impressed. Despite the team's terrible record, Shara had been able to help them earn several high-profile fans.

A quick observation Shepard made gave him further insight into Shara's character. The pictures weren't placed on the wall behind Shara's desk. Usually people who had frequent encounters with celebrities would place their pictures of them in that spot. The logic being that when a visitor came, they would sit opposite the person and see the pictures behind them. That would make the visitor realize they were meeting with someone who hung out with the elite. Shepard always felt it was an unnecessary move to make the person appear to be elite themselves. Shara on the other hand placed her pictures on a side wall where a visitor would see them in passing but lose sight of them once they sat opposite Shara's desk. When a visitor sat with her, they wouldn't be intimidated by her collection of pictures and just focus on business. In short, Shara was someone who didn't mind showing people the perks of her job but she didn't want to shove them in people's faces. An admirable trait and Shepard was starting to wish he could have met Shara when she was still alive.

(KNOCK KNOCK)

Shepard and Garrus turned towards the door to the office and saw that a three people had gathered outside. The group consisted of a male turian, a female drell and a quarian male.

The drell spoke first, "we're from the promotions team. Vala said that you two wanted to see us."

The first thing Shepard noticed was that each one of the people standing in the door seemed confused by his and Garrus' presence. Not so much because they were in Shara's office but because the trio didn't know why they were in it. Combined with the fact no one looked as though they had been crying recently, Shepard figured that Vala didn't tell the trio about Shara's death. He looked toward Garrus who nodded to indicate he had come to the same realization. Garrus then held out his arm to gesture for Shepard to take the lead on the interview.

"Yes we did," Shepard said, "I'm Detective Shepard and this is my partner Detective Vakarian. Please, come in."

Shara's coworkers proceeded to enter the office and each took a seat in the office's chairs. Shepard sat in the chair behind the desk while Garrus leaned against the wall behind him. While everyone was taking their seats, Shara's coworkers introduced themselves. The turian's name was Koran Teronis, the quarian's name was Peda'Tok vas Qwib Qwib and the drell's name was Tamala. Before Shepard could give the customary "nice to meet you" response, Koran spoke.

"Forgive me for being blunt Detectives," he said, "but why are we meeting in Shara's office and why were you searching it when we came in."

"Well," Shepard said as he prepared himself to deliver the bad news, "because Ms. Shara'Vael is the reason we're here. I'm sorry to have to tell you all this but she was found murdered in her apartment this morning."

The trio reacted about how Shepard expected. Tamala initially gasped in shock and then started crying. Peda tried to comfort her but his face showed that he was struggling to process what he heard. Koran's initial expression of surprise slowly turned to anger as the news sunk in.

"What happened?!" he said with an almost inaudible growl, "who killed her?!"

Shepard held his hand up in an attempt to calm Koran down, "that's what we're trying to find out Mr. Teronis and we're here hoping the three of you might be able to help. Have the three of you worked with Shara long?"

"Y…yes" Peda replied while steadily regaining his composure, "we've been on the promotions team together for several years now. Everyday we'd work together coming up with new ways to promote support for the Peacekeepers."

Tamala sniffled, "Shara was the best of us though. A lot of our best ideas came from her. That's why she was picked to be our boss. She was passionate about the team and she made it her mission to keep people supporting the team regardless of the struggles they've been having."

"Did that mission have her working long hours?" Shepard asked.

"Oh no," replied Tamala, "Shara was an efficient person. She made sure we got our work done so that we could leave on time every day."

Peda was starting to relax by that point and chuckled, "she said as much as she enjoyed working with us, she wanted to us to be able to go home and have enough time to spend with our families every night, We were lucky to have her as a boss because she always looked out for us."

Shepard and Garrus looked at each other. What Shara's coworker's were saying confirmed what Torro had told Garrus back at the embassy about her efficient nature. However they still needed a reason for why Shara had been cancelling date nights recently. It sounded like it would be tough though if her coworker's were still getting out of work on time everyday.

"Are you sure she hadn't been working late some nights?" Shepard asked. "Maybe she stayed here after you three had left for the day."

All three coworkers looked confused by Shepard's question before Tamala answered, "yes, we're sure. At the end of the day we would walk out to our skycar's together."

"Why are you asking if she'd been working late?" Koran asked. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"My partner spoke with Shara's boyfriend before coming here," answered Shepard, "he said that for the last couple of weeks, she had been cancelling their date nights and said it was because she had to work late. If she wasn't here, then we have a lot of times where here movements are unaccounted for."

The three coworkers shared a puzzled look with each other before Peda said, "Detective Shepard, we don't know why Shara had been canceling her dates but we can assure you it wasn't because she needed to work late."

"Okay," Shepard replied, "Shara's secrecy behind her cancelled date nights aside, was there anything else out of the ordinary going on with her these past few weeks?"

Tamala eyes widened when a thought came to her, "now that you mention it, something had been off with her lately. I said she was the best of us at coming up with promotion ideas but the last few weeks it's been a struggle just to get one idea out of her."

"Yeah," said Peda, "it was like she was in her own world while the rest of us were brainstorming. We asked if something was wrong but she always said she was fine."

"Wait a minute!" Koran exclaimed. "I just thought of something. Shara started acting weird around the time we were negotiating a deal with Starfire. It's a new restaurant that opened on the station recently. They were going to sponsor a new promotion we're working on. The deal was going to lead to a lot of money and publicity for both the restaurant and the Peacekeepers."

Garrus stepped away from the wall he was leaning against, "what happened?"

"The day we were supposed to close the deal, Shara was a no show," said Peda, "Come to think of it, that was out of the ordinary for Shara as well. She never missed important meetings like that. By not showing up, we weren't able to close the deal and the promotion was abandoned."

"Did Shara ever say why she missed the meeting?" Shepard asked.

Tamala sighed, "all she said was that something had come up that she couldn't get out of. She kept apologizing to the owner of Starfire for missing the meeting but he just threw it back at her. He said it was her fault that his business was struggling and that one day he was going to make her pay for it."

Shepard and Garrus looked at each other. Though it didn't sound like an explicit threat, the owner's statement did provide them with a motive. With a new lead to follow, they thanked Shara's coworkers for their time and said they would be in touch if they had any more questions. The trio wished them luck with their investigation and left the office. The two detective's were about to leave as well but Shepard suddenly stopped in his tracks. Something about their current theory bothered him.

"Why would Shara have let the owner into her apartment?" He asked. "we said that Shara would only have let her killer inside because she didn't see him as a threat. This guy blamed her for his business failing. Not exactly someone you'd welcome into your home."

Garrus shrugged, "maybe he told her that he was willing to talk things out. Shara thinks she may finally have a chance at forgiveness and lets him in. The conversation however takes a bad turn and he kills her."

"Maybe, but still…(sigh) I guess it wouldn't hurt to talk to him. We might still learn something."

"There you go Detective Shepard," Garrus said while patting Shepard on the back and walking out of the office, "another key rule about being a true detective is 'leave no stone unturned.'"


End file.
